The discovery of human remains on the muddy banks of a pond in West Valley City, Utah, in late March had several families with missing loved ones on edge as they waited for authorities to identify the remains.
A skull and other bones were discovered by a fisherman in a pond near an office complex and golf course March 25, and are being examined by the Utah Office of the Medical Examiner.
The news spread fast among families of missing people both in Utah and Wyoming.
At least six people are known to have disappeared in that general area between 1994 and 2021, including Wyoming resident Anne Elliott, formerly of Star Valley and Jackson, who disappeared in Salt Lake City in 2020.
All waited for news that abruptly arrived Friday afternoon when a family member of one of the missing people said a medical examiner’s office contacted her to say they were putting out a news release declaring the bones as male, according to Marilyn Stevenson, whose son Justin Hooiman, disappeared in Salt Lake City in November 2017.
While they waited for this news, more human remains were discovered Wednesday in a black garbage bag alongside a road, roughly 60 miles north in Brigham City.
This body was badly decomposed, reported KUTV2 News, and the medical examiner was unable to determine the person’s identity, though it’s believed to be a female with long reddish-brown hair and a distinctive heart tattoo with on the victim’s left bicep.
For the families of the missing, this perpetual rollercoaster of soaring emotions is the reality they live with as they monitor the headlines for any bits of news.
They’re excitedly desperate for any news, but also dread that news will be confirmation of a death. While not knowing what happened to their missing loved ones is torture, there’s also still a sliver of hope they’re still alive.
New Hope, New Fear
For Elliott’s sister, Emily Nardacci of Pinedale, it’s a constant tug and pull.
Nardacci was initially optimistic about the remains in West Valley City, given that the location where they were discovered was about 6 miles from the Salt Lake County Metro Jail, where her sister was last seen leaving on Jan. 10, 2020, before she disappeared.
Now, the discovery of the second body that's likely female gives her a new whirl of hope to finally bring closure to a five-year search for answers.
West Valley City police, so far, remain mum about the discovery of the skull and bones. And despite numerous phone calls and messages from Cowboy State Daily, Roxeanne Vainuku, deputy communications director for the department, did not comment or respond to requests for additional information.
A spokesperson for the Utah Department of Health and Human Services, however, did respond and confirmed the recovery of the skull and bones.
Due to Utah’s closed records laws preventing the Office of the Medical Examiner from commenting on any closed or open cases, Danielle Conlon, public information officer for the department, could only confirm the office does have the bones in their custody but could not provide any additional information.
Anne Elliott vanished five years ago in downtown Salt Lake City as her family continues searching for her. (Courtesy Emily Narducci) 
Forensic investigators were on site March 26, sifting for more bones and evidence. (Courtesy Marilyn Stevenson) 
The remains were discovered by a fisherman in near an office complex and golf club in West Valley City, Utah. (Google)
Complicated Feelings
For family members, the emotions are complicated, Narducci said, as they wait to learn the identity.
“Obviously, my heart sings every time I read about a new body being found,” Narducci said, “but then my heart sinks and doubts creep in about the chances of it being her.”
The last five years have been hard wondering what happened to her sister, Narducci said.
And as she waits, she also feels for the other families who are also in the impossible situation of wanting it to be their loved one but also hoping that it’s not.
“We’ve all been searching for answers for so long, and it’s difficult to put into words—the conflict of not wanting this to be your loved one yet desperately needing to find them,” Nardacci said.
Narducci mourns for her sister in general and the woman she once was prior to falling prey to drug addiction in her mid-20s.
Elliott, who sometimes uses her maiden name Lancaster, had once been a productive divorced mother of two working at a dentist’s office and living in Jackson area, Nardacci said.
Her sister’s drug use began following a botched surgery when Elliott became addicted to pain pills. From there, it spiraled into heroin and street drugs, with Elliott cycling in and out of jail for minor crimes and living homeless on the streets of Salt Lake City.
Despite multiple attempts at rehab in Wyoming and assistance from Nardacci and other family members, Elliott’s drug use escalated to the point where she lost her children and ended up moving to Utah, where her life went from bad to worse, Nardacci said.
Even at her lowest point, however, Nardacci said her sister always stayed in touch with her and other family.
Mostly, Nardacci remained a constant in her sister’s life and never judged her for her actions or addiction.
“Everyone deserves to have a person like that in their lives,” Nardacci said.
The last time she’d been in jail, Elliott had stayed in close contact with Nardacci and even tentatively agreed to return with her to Wyoming. Nardacci made plans to drive to Salt Lake City on her release date to pick her up.
Two weeks before her release date, however, communications from her sister stopped. Nardacci showed up on the appointed day to pick her up anyway. She waited around all day for her sister to walk out of the jail, but somehow, she missed her.
Despite a search of the city and homeless encampments that night and the following day, Nardacci was unable to find her sister and has not spoken to her since the last time she called from jail.
Over the years, various detectives with the Salt Lake City Police Department have investigated Elliott’s disappearance, but so far, there’s been no major breaks in her case.
It’s hard every time a body is found, she said.
“You have the sense of loss, but you can’t allow yourself to feel it because you’re almost holding your breath until you find them,” she said.
A Mother Waits
Marilyn Stevenson also trepidatiously waits to find out if the remains are her son, Justin Hooiman, who disappeared in Salt Lake City at age 27 in November 2017. The fact that the bones have been deemed male makes her cautiously optimistic tempered by the inevitable feeling of dread.
Much like Elliott, Hooiman’s life, his mother said, was derailed by drugs after he got hooked on OxyContin and pain meds following a series of painful surgeries on his shoulder and ankle when he was 22.
When Stevenson heard about the discovery of bones last month, she immediately drove to the pond the next day to do her own searching. Forensic investigators with the West Valley City Police Department were still on site, sifting through mud along the banks of the pond.
Despite what appeared to be a small animal skull and a bone from a bird wing, Stevenson didn’t find any other human bones.
Stevenson again returned to the site the next evening to meet with a handful of other local families with missing children including that of Kandis Harris, Aletha Jo Williams, Bobbi Ann Campbell and Jordan Gonzales.
Though it’s a club none of the families chose to be in, there’s nonetheless solidarity in the notion that they know exactly how the others feel.
“To be able to walk up to those other mothers and give them a big hug and say, ‘I know exactly what you’re going through’ is so neat and wonderful,” Stevenson said, as she choked back tears.
Even today, though she knows in her heart her son is no longer alive, she still can’t help turning her head whenever she sees someone who looks like him or has his same mannerisms, she said.
“I just can’t help myself,” she said.
Disappeared Before Work
Stevenson recalled her last conversation with her son just minutes before he went missing.
Hooiman, who had just been released from six months in prison and was staying at a halfway house, had called her around 6 a.m. that morning to ask Stevenson to meet him for lunch at the hospital near where he was working on a construction job.
Realizing she didn’t specify where to meet him, she immediately called him back only for his phone to ring and ring and never to respond. That was the last time anyone saw or heard from him.
She was later told that he’d gotten into a car with another Fortitude resident and his girlfriend, who was giving them a lift to work.
Stevenson also learned other troubling details over the years since her son disappeared including potential links to two White supremacist groups, The Soldiers of Aryan Culture and Silent Aryan Warriors, whose members had also been staying at the Fortitude with Hooiman.
These groups have a known presence in the area. In October 2020, authorities conducted a massive bust of 21 affiliated gang members on drug trafficking and firearm chargers, according to a report from the U.S. Attorney’s Office's Utah District.
Thus far, Hooiman’s case remains open, Stevenson said, with investigators now treating it like a homicide with no immediate answers forthcoming, despite conflicting updates from detectives over the years.
In the meantime, Stevenson has channeled her grief for her son into helping other families of the missing by serving on the board of directors of the Cold Case Coalition nonprofit and as the program manager for the Missing Coalition.
“I like to say that Justin led me to my tribe,” she said. “It does wonders to be able to work with people all across the country who give their talents to helping the missing.”
What Happens Next
Now, Stevenson and the other families wait as they share information among each other based on third-hand accounts of brief conversations with detectives, including one family who said a detective told them that the skull had all its teeth intact and there were no apparent head injuries.
Stevenson has not spoken to the West Valley City police herself to confirm this is true and said the police have not been in contact with her either.
The remains are currently under the jurisdiction of Utah’s Office of the Medical Examiner.
Due to Utah’s closed records laws preventing the department from commenting on any closed or open cases, Danielle Conlon, public information officer for the Utah Department of Health and Human Services, could only provide general details about the forensic process.
The first step is determining whether the bones are modern or archeological meaning 100 years or older, which is done by the state forensic anthropologist.
If archeological, the bones then fall under the state’s archeological jurisdiction.
If they are deemed to be modern bones, they’ll be sent to one of the state’s forensic specialist partners for a number of different processes, including DNA extraction for comparison to state and national DNA databases, forensic dentistry and genetic testing and other forensic processes.
It’s impossible to determine a timeline, Conlon said, because every case is different.
“It depends on what we find and what information we have and how we’re able to connect everything to determine who this person is and find their family, next of kin, and offer that closure,” she said.
Stevenson has been through this wait numerous times so far, and like Narducci, continues to wait with both hope and dread for answers.
Jen Kocher can be reached at jen@cowboystatedaily.com.
